


JOY (when you call me)

by generalwierdo



Series: Song Lyrics' Fics [3]
Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: I bent the storylines a bit so it would match up, Kippen Siblings also bc we stan, M/M, Pretty Canon, Tyrus Fluff, also climate strike friday!!, and its not a 1 am fic wow, but i also have friend drama so idk if i can go, but its my basic ok?!, but now it makes sense i hope, doing luke and the climate some good i hope, i know its basic, if you're reading these, just takes place off-screen, the magic word is greenhouse, this took me forever, wow the tags are basically my rant place now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-20 09:29:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20673110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/generalwierdo/pseuds/generalwierdo
Summary: 5 times that Cyrus calls TJ, and 1 time that TJ calls Cyrus





	JOY (when you call me)

**Author's Note:**

> Another 5+1 fic to grace your feeds! Hope y'all enJOY!

1.

TJ stared at his phone. It had just been a normal afternoon in his room, hanging out, watching Netflix, but then his phone started buzzing. He paused Stranger Things and checked his phone. There he saw the most incredible sight ever. An adorable picture of Cyrus at his Bar Mitzvah was lit up on his screen, with the contact _ Underdog. _ Cyrus was _ calling him. _ TJ's relationship with his friends had always been restricted to odd text messages and annoyingly blown-up group chats about hot girls. No one ever called him. _ Ever _. TJ fumbled with his phone but finally managed to slide the little icon. He pressed the phone to his ear and tried not to sound panicked.

_ "Hey TJ!" _Cyrus's voice rang out from his phone. Cheery and bright, TJ finally understood what people meant when they said you can hear someone's smile through the phone.

"Hey, Cy! What's up?" TJ tried to keep his voice level, but he thought that at any moment Cyrus could suddenly tell that he was nervous. When he had given Cyrus his number at school the other day, he hadn’t expected him to actually _ use it _.

_ "Oh, nothing much. I just felt like hearing your voice." _ This time, TJ did drop his phone. He _ wanted to hear his voice?! _If he hadn't been sitting on his bed, he for sure would've fallen over.

_ "Um, I mean, I meant that we haven't talked in a while, so I just wanted to say hi? I always prefer calling to texting because that way it feels more personal, not that I wanted to make you feel uncomfortable or anything like that I just-" _TJ cut him off

"Cyrus, it's fine. I love it when people call me. It feels like they care more." TJ internally cursed, wondering if that was the wrong thing to say. But, Cyrus proved that it was fine.

_ "Same! In my opinion, texting was the devil’s work. You can never show any emotion, and someone could just ghost you and not tell you anything." _

"Sounds like you have some bad memories." TJ chuckled. This was going great! 

_ "Oh boy, I could talk for hours about texting problems." _And so TJ sat on his bed listening to the comforting sound of Cyrus's voice washing over him. As Cyrus ranted on about bad group projects, TJ smiled to himself. Even though they had only been friends for a few days, this was already the best conversation he had ever had.

  


2.

TJ was grabbing his bag out of his employee locker after a fun shift at the gym when he felt his phone starts to buzz with a familiar song, _ Wannabe _by the Spice Girls. Ever since Cyrus had started to regularly call him, he had been changing TJ’s ringtone for himself to something equally ridiculous every week. TJ grinned and pressed the accept call button.

“Underdog! What’s up?”

_ “Hey, Teej! I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out?” _

TJ checked his watch. His mom wanted him to grab some groceries coming home, but that wouldn’t take too long.

“I have to run some errands for my mom, but I’ll probably be free in like an hour. Does that work for you?”

_ “Yeah, sure! I’m at my mom's house this week, so you can come over whenever. We can hang out, it’ll be fun!” _

“See you then!” TJ hung up the phone and smiled at it softy. He loved talking to Cyrus, and now they were going to hang out? This was going to be the best day.

He left the gym and walked over to the grocery store. Consulting the list his mom had given him, he grabbed pretzels, cereal, and apples. Then, skipping the plastic bag (save the environment everybody), he walked home cheerfully. 

“Hey mom!” he called out. “I have your groceries! Also, can you give me a ride to Cyrus’s? He’s at his mom’s house this week and it’s on the other side of town so-” TJ stopped as he saw a note on the kitchen counter. He frowned and went over to read it.

**TJ- I’m getting my nails done and then going out to dinner with some friends from work. Amber is having a late shift, so she’ll be home around 10. There’s mac n’ cheese in the pantry for dinner, and you can invite a friend over if you want. Text me when you get this (or call me since you seem to like doing that a lot lately). Xoxo, Mom.**

TJ groaned and rolled his eyes. Of course the one night he needed a ride, his mom was out. He pulled out his phone and speed-dialed his mom. It went straight to voicemail, and he silently cursed. The familiar beep rang out, and TJ decided to leave a voicemail.

“Hey mom, it’s TJ. I get that you’re probably getting your nails done right now, so I just wanted to let you know that I got the groceries and I’m home. I’m sort of annoyed because I wanted to see if you could drive me to Cyrus’s, but it’s fine I guess. Have fun with your friends. Love you.”

TJ clicked off his phone and sighed. Then he went to his favorites on the phone app and decided to call Cyrus to see if there was anything they could do. Cyrus as usual picked up on the first ring, and TJ smiled.

_ “Hey, Not-so-scary-basketball guy! Are you still coming over?” _

“Well, here’s the problem. My mom is going to be out all night, so there’s no way for me to get to your house. I would walk, but I think it would take me over an hour, and I think that it’s going to rain tonight. Would you want to come over here?”

_ “I can ask my mom, but I don’t think she would like me hanging out at a friends house alone at night, even though you’ve come over multiple times. Protecting parents, amiright? I’ll try asking though, or maybe she could drive over and pick you up. It sucks that my mom and step dad's house is so far away though, we’re practically in Sugar House!” _

TJ smiled, and silently noted that Cyrus hadn’t asked about his dad. Even though they had been talking for several weeks now, he still hadn’t broached the topic of his dad. Cyrus knew that his dad wasn’t around very much, but he mercifully hadn’t pressured TJ into talking about it. It was simply never mentioned.

_ “Ugh, my mom is apparently on a conference call with all my other parents, so I’m stuck at my house too. But we can still chat if you want?” _

“Yeah of course!” TJ said very quickly, then hoped that Cyrus hadn’t noticed. The line went silent for a few moments, and TJ started to internally panic. But then he heard a rustling, the sound of footsteps, and a door close, and he sighed in relief.

_ “Want to facetime?” _Cyrus said, his voice sounding weird. TJ chalked it up to the fact that they were talking on the phone and nodded, momentarily forgetting that Cyrus couldn’t seem. 

“Yeah, sure!”

Cyrus hung up, and then FaceTimed TJ. The two boys just sat in their rooms and chatted for hours. They discussed how TJ was doing much better in math because he had told Coleman about his dyscalculia, and how Buffy had come back two days ago.

TJ bit his lip at that. “I should probably apologize to her in person, right?”

Cyrus nodded and stopped spinning around in his chair to face TJ. _ “Yeah, that would be good. But, I don’t think she’s super keen to talk to you right now…” _Cyrus trailed off, and TJ could see a familiar spark in his eye, the one that meant he was making a plan.

_ “I’ve got it!” _ Cyrus excitedly explained his idea to TJ, and the two boys started to brainstorm. They lost all track of time as they talked about their plan, and then started to talk about basketball, and then they were on a rant session for at least 10 minutes about the cafeteria food somehow until Amber poked her head into TJ’s room.

“Hey TJ,” TJ screamed and turned around. Amber started to laugh, and Cyrus looked at on-screen TJ worriedly.

_ “TJ? Are you ok? What’s wrong?” _

TJ took a few deep breaths and glared at Amber.

“I’m ok Cy. Amber just got home. Which means that it’s…” T checked his watch, and his eyes widened. “Cyrus we’ve been FaceTiming for _ 5 hours. _” Cyrus gasped, and checked his watch.

_ “Wow. I think I’ve definitely used up all my allotted screen time. I’ll call you tomorrow and we can iron out the details of the basketball apology. Bye! Tell Amber hi for me!” _

“Bye!” TJ replied, and then once the screen went blank, fixed Amber with a glare, who was laughing hysterically.

“Ambrosia Seraphina Kippen, you’re so dead.” Amber kept laughing and managed to choke out.

“Your scream...oh my god...that was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.”

And so the night at the Kippen house ended with attempted murder, a laughing apology, and a Kippen Siblings Popcorn Marathon™️. And when they had both calmed down, Amber asked over the sound of their favorite movie _ Ocean’s 11 _

“So have you asked him out yet?”

  
3.

It was Saturday morning, and TJ had barely gotten any sleep last night. He was so excited about showing Cyrus a little piece of his world that Cyrus didn’t know about. He rode his bike over to the desert spot where he and his friends always raced and saw that Reed and Lester were already there.

“Hey man!” Lester said, giving him a high-five.

“Hey bro, what's up?” TJ replied, giving Reed a high five as well with a big grin on his face.

Reed was not smiling, however. “So, who’s this guy that you’re bringing today?” He crossed his arms and stared at TJ. 

TJ didn’t flinch however, he just grinned even larger. “His name’s Cyrus, and he’s the best guy. You guys are going to love him. He’s super funny and really smart.”

TJ suddenly felt his phone vibrate, and the song _ Umbrella _ blared out. He blushed, reached in his pocket and pulled it out.

“Actually, this is him. Gimme one sec?”

“Sure dude, we’ll warm up.” Lester and Reed walked away, and TJ quickly pressed the _ accept call _button.

“Hey TJ!” Cyrus said twitchingly.

“Ummm, hey Cy. Is everything ok?”

“Well yeah, I just have no idea what to bring and no clue how to act and oh I'm really nervous about meeting your friends!” Cyrus spoke faster and faster and TJ almost laughed.

“Underdog, there’s nothing to be nervous about. Bring your bike and bike stuff. Meet us out by the biking desert. You’ll see a sign that says _ Randy’s Bait and Tackle, _just a mile beyond that. Act like yourself, it’ll be fine. You have nothing to be nervous about. They’re going to love you. Plus, you’re coming over afterward so we can make muffins and binge Stranger Things, so there’s no backing out of it now!”

TJ laughed and heard a little giggle from the other end of the phone. He smiled, glad that he had gotten Cyrus to be less nervous. 

“Ok, I’ll be there in half an hour. And TJ?”

“Yeah?”  
“Thanks.” TJ smiled and hung up the phone. He looked over at Reed and Lester, who were looking at something in Reed's bag and talking quietly.

“Hey, guys! Ready to warm up? Cy will be here in like half an hour, and I really want to show him what we got.”

Reed smirked. “Yeah sure. Why do you want to impress Cyrus so badly? Is he your boyyyyyyyyfriend?” Reed laughed and jokingly hit Lester, who laughed too. TJ felt his face grow hot.

“Shut up bro.” he laughed, trying not to let the comments bother him. Because secretly, deep down, he wished that Cyrus would be his boyfriend.

4.

Ever since TJ had ditched Reed and Lester, he had found himself with a lot more free time. He would love to be spending this time with Cyrus, but unfortunately, Cyrus had a very full social calendar. He went to every single one of his friend's events, whether that be Andi’s crafting sessions, Buffy’s basketball games, or Jonah’s ultimate frisbee things. He also had this thing with Amber every week that neither of them would tell him about, and his parents were very overprotective. So when TJ got that notification that _ Underdog<3 _ was calling him accompanied by the song _ You’ve got a friend in me _(a classic, as Cyrus had told him), he nearly squealed in joy.

“Hey, Cyrus! Wow, you haven’t called me in a while.”

_ “Hey TJ! Yeah, it’s been a little weird. I like calling you, it’s fun.” _

TJ blushed. “It was weird not getting calls from you every day, so I’m glad that we’ve resumed our tradition. Is there something specific going on, or do you just want to talk?”

Cyrus laughed. _ “Well, I was going to play ping-pong with Jonah in my mom’s basement in half an hour, do you want to join us? You can try to finally beat me.” _

TJ smiled. “Ok, we won an approximately even amount of games. I think. And yeah, I would love to come. Half an hour?” Even though TJ secretly wished it could be just him and Cyrus, he conceded that it would still be nice to get to know Jonah better.

_ “Great! You can just come on down, although beware of my mom. She’s on a baking binge and may make you try several different varieties of bad macarons.” _

TJ laughed. He had missed the way Cyrus could always make him smile, about anything. “Sounds perfect to me.”

_ “Great! See you in a bit!” _

TJ hung up the phone with a smile and immediately dashed downstairs. His mom was sitting at the kitchen table with a stack of papers and her laptop open, looking incredibly stressed. _ Oh no. _

“Uh, hey mom,” TJ said quietly. His mom looked up in surprise but then softened into a wane smile.

“Hi TJ, honey. What’s up?”

TJ internally grimaced. He knew that things were tricky right now because his mom’s job was making budget cuts and his dad was being in and out because he had lost his job and needed money. Asking his mom for favors seemed so selfish, but he wanted to hang out with Cyrus. So he swallowed, and spit out the words quickly.

“So Cyrus invited me to hang out and I know that you're super busy and if you can’t drive me I can just walk but can I? Please?” He gasped and looked at his mom nervously. She studied him for a moment, and then stood up, her joints cracking as she stretched.

“Honey, of course, I can give you a ride. I love Cyrus, he’s such a sweet boy. I’m really glad you’re spending more time with him and less with those dirt-biking friends of yours.” TJ sighed.

“Don’t worry mom, I won’t be hanging out with them for a long time. I realized that they kind of suck. And also thank you so much!!!!”

TJ’s mom smiled and wrapped him in a hug.

“It’s going to be ok sweetie.” She murmured into his hair. “I promise.”

5.

It was Thursday afternoon, the day before costume day. And TJ was so excited. He had a big plan for how he wanted today to go. First, he and Cyrus would show up at school, hang out, joke, do their thing. Then they would walk around school together, making jokes about their costume. They would get a ton of pictures of course, and then after the day was over, he was going to ask Cyrus if he wanted to go to the park. And there, he would tell him how he really felt, how he had been feeling for months now. And hopefully, just maybe, it would turn out that his feelings were reciprocated. Most likely not, but a guy can dream.

Just then, TJ’s phone rang. He had been walking to the basketball courts in the park to play a pickup game, but he immediately sat down on a bench with a grin. Because only one person ever called him. The song _ London Boy _from Taylor Swift’s new album rang out from his pocket; after there was no worry of Reed or Lester making fun of him TJ had changed the song in honor of Cyrus’s trip to England. He smiled and pulled it out.

_ “Teej! Hey!” _

“Hey, Cy! What’s up?”

_ “So, I had an idea for my _ salt _ costume for tomorrow. I have the white shirt and pants and somehow convinced Andi to help make me the felt actual salt shaker thingy, but I needed an idea for the top part. So I was just hanging out at my dad and step-mom’s house, and I walk downstairs, and they’re making pasta for dinner! It was this great new recipe, with capers! I’ll have my step-mom send it to your mom later, you’ll love it.” _

TJ blushed. “Ok, so what about the top thing?”

_ “Oh yeah right! So they were draining the pasta with the colander, and I look at it and I’m like ‘Wow! That would make a great pasta top!’ So at dinner, I asked them if I could use it as the top for my costume, and they exchange looks, and then my dad says ‘Well Cyrus, if you can dry all the dishes, you can keep the top.’ So I’m like ok. And turns out, there were like 40 dishes used in that recipe! So for an hour I’m just washing dishes and listening to Hamilton (of course) and then I finally finished so now my costume is all ready!” _

TJ burst out laughing. How could one person be so adorable without even trying? Cyrus was like a kitten, or a puppy-dog; something fluffy and adorable that people make Instagram accounts for.

“Well Underdog, it sounds like the perfect outfit. I really can’t wait to see it, but I’m late for a pickup game, so I’ll call you later, ok?”

_ “Ok, bye! Can’t wait!” _

TJ pressed the end call button, and just sat there smiling for a moment. ANy conversation with Cyrus made him feel like he could fly. Tomorrow was going to be amazing.

But little did he know that a certain girl had been listening in to his whole conversation. And that maybe, a few well-placed comments could make his plans go awry.

+1

Cyrus sank into bed after getting home from Andi’s party. That party had been the most amazing event he had ever attended. Including his Bash-Mitzvah! Except for the whole SAVA thing, that was going to be hard. For everyone.

He was about to plug in his phone before going to bed when suddenly a certain ringtone rang out. Ever since he had started to call TJ, he had made his ringtone one song, that he had never changed even when he was being idiotic. He figured that TJ would never call him, so the ringtone would never be used. But as the familiar strands of one of his favorite songs rang out, Cyrus never regretted his choice.

_ “Hey, Cyrus.” _

Cyrus sank back into his bed and smiled. “Hey, Teej. Or should I say...Thelonious?”

On the other end of the phone, Cyrus could hear TJ’s groan. _ “Hey, you promised that you would never tell anyone!” _

Cyrus quirked his eyebrow. “I’m...not?”

_ “Yeah, you are, me!” _

“So, basically I’m never allowed to use it?”

_ “Exactly.” _

Cyrus smiled. “What about if I call you Thel? And only to you.”

_ “So now I’m Thel, Scary Basketball Guy, Not-So-Scary-Basketball-Guy, Teej, and a little puppy?” _

“Hey!” Cyrus protested. “What happens on the bench, stays on the bench!”

The other line grew quiet, and Cyrus immediately feared that he had done something wrong.

Finally, a small voice crept out from the speaker. _ “Everything?” _

Cyrus widened his eyes. “No! Not...everything. In fact, there are some things that I would very much like to take...off the bench.”

_ “Like?” _

Cyrus blushed. “Like, our lunch date tomorrow?”

_ “Well, I would love to take that off of the bench as well.” _

“Same here." Cyrus smiled, but then a notification from Andi about tomorrow morning. "Also, do you want to come o the spoon with the group tomorrow? It’ll be all the usual suspects: Andi, Buffy, Jonah, Marty, Amber...”

_ “Of course! I’ll force Amber into giving me a ride. She’ll be so mad that I was invited as well lol.” _

Cyrus stifled a laugh. “TJ, did you just say ‘lol’?”

_ “Yup, I’m a regular Gen-Z’er. I like to stay up until 3 am and make satirical jokes. But you don’t, so I’m going to wish you goodnight now, ok?” _

“You know me so well. Goodnight, Thel.”

_ “Goodnight Cy.” _

* * *

_ Oh Joy, when you call me _

_ I was giving up, oh, I was giving in _

_ Joy, set my mind free _

_ I was giving up, oh, I was giving in _

_ How'd you always know when I'm down? _

_ How'd you always know when I'm down? _

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, I would like all y'all to take a guess for how long I've been writing this fic. This has probably been my longest fic to write and edit, mainly because of school, but also because I really wanted this fic to be good. I really, really hope you guys like it, and drop some likes+comments! They're my faves.
> 
> Keep an eye out for Electric Love chapters coming soon, and maybe some more Friendship Communism. Also I have two more BIG projects in the works, including a collab with one of the amazing authors here on AO3!
> 
> Tumblr: bi-tyrus-shipper
> 
> PS: Wow, this is my 4th song-fic technically, brownie points if you can name the other 3!


End file.
